Abstract
Emotional Intelligence or one's Emotional Quotient (EQ) has been reported to be as significant a factor as IQ, or even a more significant factor than IQ, in predicting success in life. According to Goleman (1995), school-age children and adolescents who have good EQ seem to have lower rates of delinquency and substance abuse, score higher on achievement tests, and fare better in their later life careers and relationships. EQ has been defined as the ability to understand one's own feelings and the feelings of others in the environment as a way of regulating one's actions. For children who have been identified with serious learning, attentional and behavioral difficulties, "social perceptual deficits" (Lerner, 1993) or deficits in interpersonal intelligence seriously limit their ability to implement key elements of EQ: (1) to understand one's own feelings and relying on them to make good decisions; (2) to direct one's feelings to keep painful events and interactions from limiting one's ability to think; (3) to encourage oneself in the face of continued failure and other roadblocks; (4) to delay gratification; (5) to empathize and develop rapport with others; (6) to read nonverbal cues in the environment; and (7) to monitor one's emotions and regulate them (referred to as "metamood") so that they are displayed appropriately relative to setting and context. Missing important emotional cues, these students can't benefit from the feedback that is ever present in the environment, feedback which seems to naturally shape the behaviors of their typical peers. Consequently, because they have missed this important feedback, their patterns of responding remain unchanged and can ultimately lead to failure and rejection. For children with severe learning disabilities and disorders of attention, excessive behaviors that include hyperactivity, distractibility, aggression, anxiety, self-stimulation, and perseveration often compete with the more prosocial and self-regulated behaviors of EQ. Regulating one's emotions and behaviors goes beyond how accurately the emotional regulatory system may be functioning; emotional responding is learned from one's parents/ family of origin and is rooted in one's culture. The good news according to Goleman (1995) is that as late as adolescence, the regulatory centers of the brain are not as yet locked into a patterned set of responses and can be retrained to more effectively monitor emotion and regulate behavioral responses, although one's culture will continue to provide a context for emotional responding. Therefore for children with learning disabilities and disorders of attention, the role of "remedial emotional education" must be to address deficits in social skills, locus of control, self-regulation, and empathy, without homogenizing cultural difference. Parents and teachers can help children to better develop EQ by teaching them to: (1) distinguish differences among their feelings and to provide the correct vocabulary to describe various feelings; (2) express feelings in acceptable ways appropriate to given situational contexts; (3) read body language and other nonverbal cues in order to enhance communication; (4) treat others in the environment sensitively; (5) view a situation from another's perspective; and (6) self-monitor one's emotions and behaviors so that they meet the demands of a given situation. Specific strategies for teachers and parents to use in developing EQ are detailed in the article which follows. Not only must teachers and parents recognize their own importance as models for children to view of appropriate emotional and behavioral responding in the environment, but they also must accept that EQ for children with severe learning disabilities and disorders of attention will not develop naturally and must be taught systematically if these children are to be successful.

Abstract
This study reports results of an investigation concerning elderly assessment of their own health and that of their peers. The ability of elderly individuals to accurately assess their own health is extremely important in that such assessment will determine the future actions of these individuals, either to seek medical attention or to participate to varying degrees in daily activities. In evaluating one's health, elderly individuals may do so by making frequent comparisons to their peers. Using this comparative approach, elderly individuals may determine that they are healthier than they really might be, based upon which peers they selected for comparison purposes. The study sought to determine how accurately elderly individuals could assess their own health. The sample group consisted of 261 elderly people, 120 of whom were residents from the city of Trieste and 141 of whom resided in rural towns in central Sicily. These participants were randomly selected from two different age levels (>75, <75). An oral interview was the primary data collection method, with participants asked to discuss their own health first and the health of their peers second. The findings of the study revealed that elderly individuals in assessing their own health, often reflected a more hopeful or healthier and less accurate view of their health status. A different set of criteria seemed to be applied to their peers than to themselves, reporting that peers had more chronic illness problems and were more likely to complain of ongoing pain, loss of hearing, problems walking, etc. Less marked differences emerged with regard to decreases in strength, vision, sleep and food disorders. With regard to age, the findings indicated that subjects under the age of 75 predominantly reported that their health was worsening and that they felt more fatigue. However these same subjects reported that their hearing continued to be good, while in contrast, subjects over 75 reported their hearing to be worsening. Interestingly, the study revealed differences between the elderly of the North and those who resided in the South. The data showed that elderly individuals residing in the North more positively assessed their own health, while health complaints including problems due to age, lack of strength and more frequent onset of fatigue were more apt to be reported by individuals residing in the South. However despite age and geographical differences, elderly individuals were more likely overall to be optimistic in their evaluation of their own health relative to that of their peers.

Abstract
This research work is a preliminary examination of a program aimed at fostering the cognitive development of children with severe mental retardation who had been assessed as having attained at minimum the 6° stage of Piagetian sensory-motor intelligence. Six children ranging in age from 8 to 12 years old, after having been pre-tested using a assessment instrument designed specifically to evaluate types of play, received 13 sessions of training. The training focused on six different types of play activities. At the end of the training, the subjects were posttested for the first time using the same assessment instrument, and four months later were posttested again following the summer vacation. The findings showed that the training program was effective in improving play activities in this population. The delayed posttest after four months showed that these changes could be maintained. Subsequent research efforts will examine whether extending treatment time in another group of similar subjects could produce even better gains.

Abstract
The present study examined the Phonological Working Memory (PWM) abilities of 13 specifically language-impaired (SLI) children (mean age = 5-5 years; range = 5-0 to 5-11), using verbal repetition of word lists after auditory presentation. The linguistic characteristics of the test materials were designed to explore the effects of phonological similarity, word length and frequency on immediate serial recall. SLI children memory performance was compared with two groups of normal control children, one group matched on chronological age and the other group matched on language age. Children with SLI showed poor PWM abilities when compared to typical peers in the chronological age control group, while their performance was similar to typical peers in the language age control group. Children with SLI, like their typical control group peers, were however sensitive to phonological similarity, word length and the frequency of the memory list. The implications of the results with regard to previous findings from investigations of PWM and the nature of the relationship between language and memory in SLI are discussed in the article.

Abstract
Attentional deficits, which impair control of information processing, have to be carefully discriminated from more complex and general disorders. Since Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can impact negatively on cognitive function (carelessness, lack of concentration), on behavioral function (impulsiveness), and on activity level (hyperactivity), treatment provided must address the specific cognitive processing or behavioral deficits unique to each person with the disorder. In order to plan for treatment, assessment of the set of skills derived from the experimental literature which comprise "attention" must be carefully analyzed. Consequently, assessment of attentional deficits has to be differentiated according to the following specific factors: selectivity (focusing on relevant stimuli); resistance to distraction or 'maintenance attention'; span of attention; division of attention; and 'shifting' of attention (ability to change attentional focus if requested). Computerized assessment of these attention skills provides researchers with the ability to standardize the presentation of test stimuli, to more accurately record responses of subjects and to derive scores for subjects based on their baseline time-reaction performance. Consequently the research being reported used a multi-task computerized assessment procedure to study 110 subjects ranging in age from 6 to 20 years old. Thirty-eight subjects in this sample were diagnosed with ADHD and were matched by sex and age with non-hyperactive classmates. The computerized software employed in this research contained seven subtests designed to measure: 1) Simple reaction times; 2) Choice reaction times; 3) Auditory, visual and spatial continuous performance; 4) Digit span; 5) Divided attention (dual task); 6) Color-word interference (Stroop test); and 7) Shifting of attention, with both verbal and visual targets. All the tasks were graduated to match subject's age and/or disability level. The psychometric aspects of this software instrument were assessed prior to the onset of the experiment; test-retest reliability and external validity were satisfactory (coefficients range 0.78-0.92 for reliability, and 0.80-0.93 for validity). As hypothesized, significant differences related to age levels were found for most subtests, while very few differences (significant only in simple reaction times and in multiple search) were related to sex. A factor analysis yielded three principal factors, explaining 58.38% of the variance: lack of speed, poor concentration in multimodal tasks, and lack of accuracy (errors and/or omissions). The comparison between hyperactive subjects and controls, performed by means of a two-factor ANOVA (diagnosis and age), showed significant differences primarily due to age, while the effect of hyperactivity was significant for multiple choice reaction time, color-word interference, and visuo-spatial shifting (a significant diagnosis/age interaction was found in shifting with verbal stimuli). No other difference was found between hyperactive subjects and controls. In conclusion, the data obtained by means of the computerized assessment confirms that a differentiation between cognitive and behavioral (impulsivity and lack of control) aspects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is needed to plan for specific rehabilitative interventions aimed at preventing or reducing learning disabilities and/or effects of neurological deficits.

Abstract
The emotional implications of achondroplasia are rooted in cultural attitudes towards short stature and body image, and the relationship between these factors and the psychological identity of adolescents and young adults with this disorder. In some countries including the United States and England until ten years ago, the prevalent opinion was against surgical intervention to improve stature. This opinion was based on the assumption that acceptance of shortness for individuals with achondroplasia was of paramount importance to ensure emotional well-being. In other countries including Italy, Spain, Russia and more recently Israel, interventions to increase stature are widely endorsed to improve the self-image and emotional well-being of adolescents and young adults with acondroplasia. The present study investigated the emotional implications of limb lengthening on adolescents and young children with achondroplasia. The sample was comprised of 10 adolescents and young adults ranging in age from 14 to 21, who had completed the surgical limb lengthening procedure. The instruments used in this investigation to assess the emotional implications of achondroplasia were two open-ended questionnaires developed specifically for the adolescent/young adult and for his/her parent. The instruments developed were open-ended in order to enable the subjects to answer each question freely, expressing personal feelings, experiences and emotional conflicts related to achondroplasia and the decision to undergo the limb lengthening procedure. The results showed that adolescents and young adults with achondroplasia suffered greatly growing up not because of the physical impairment itself, but because of the feelings of inferiority when confronted with peers, the difficulties in becoming autonomous and the negative impact on socialization. The results further indicated that limb lengthening was generally better tolerated by younger subjects, and at all ages both parents and their children benefited from psychological intervention and support. The most relevant finding was the extremely favorable perception, on the part of both the individuals with achondroplasia and their parents, that there were physical and psychological benefits derived as a result of limb lengthening procedure. This very positive finding seemed incongruous with the reality that all subjects still had disproportional body configurations, prominent scars on their legs, and in one case poor ambulation following limb lengthening. Hence in the face of very poor self-image, the limb-lengthening procedure seems to have provided a measure of psychological relief which may have even outweighed the physical benefits.

Abstract
In the present study we compared the results obtained from different cognitive evaluations in two 12-year-old males, affected by Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. The evaluations consisted by standardized instruments, such as WISC-II-R verbal scale and French’s PTI. Other data about cognitive development were obtained from a questionnaire adapted by Anderson et al. (1992) which was administered to their mothers. Using both direct observation and standardized measures, both children's scholastic and adaptive skills were evaluated in addition to IQ. All the data confirmed a diagnosis of mental retardation, which is consistent with the majority of studies about this syndrome.

Abstract
The purpose of this review is to evaluate intervention programs for treatment and management of memory disorders in elderly adults with cerebral disease or with 'normal' aging. Specific problems related to memory disorders can be dealt with in a number of ways including: environmental adaptation, use of external aids as a compensatory strategy, and use of mnemonics as a faster route to learning new information. Imagery methodology, verbal association and cognitive techniques are also used in neuropsychological rehabilitation. In an effort to capitalize on the preserved memory abilities of amnesiac patients, some researchers developed a faded cuing technique called the method of vanishing cues. This method which relies on the use of a computer was designed to take advantage of patients' normal responses to partial cues, in order to teach them complex knowledge and skills that they might employ in everyday life. After reviewing the literature in this area, it is clear that the role of personality and social factors and their impact on memory rehabilitation has not been assessed adequately. Future studies might explore how these variables interact and influence efforts on the part of patients (as well as the therapist) to engage various memory therapies. Thus, the role of these variables needs to be considered more systematically in future clinical and research efforts.